Horror moment: But Sir Bobby Charlton knows there is plenty
of time to recover
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The developers of the Jabulani ball are adamant
that it had nothing to do with the freak goal conceded by England
goalkeeper Robert Green.
The West Ham man allowed a low shot from Clint Dempsey from
outside the box to squirm through his grasp and over the line,
pegging England back to a 1-1 draw in their World Cup Group C
opener in Rustenburg.
Green accepts human error was the major factor, but the howler
follows pre-tournament warnings that the ball could be difficult
for goalkeepers to deal with.
Green's rival for the number one jersey, David James, said
before the tournament that he feared someone would be made to look
"an idiot" by it because he claimed it was difficult to read the
flight of the ball and judge the bounce.
Adidas, the producers of the ball, stood by the Jabulani today
and pointed to some other impressive goalkeeping displays so far
which suggest Green's error was the exception rather than the
rule.
Thomas Schaikvan, head of public relations for adidas, told
Press Association Sport: "We are happy with the ball's performance
and we don't think it had anything to do with the goal England
conceded. On the contrary, if you look at the games so far, some
goalkeepers have been the stars of the tournament.
"The Nigeria goalkeeper (Vincent Enyeama) and (United States
goalkeeper) Tim Howard won the man of the match award in their
games, and the South Africa goalkeeper (Itumeleng Khune) was also
excellent against Mexico.
"There have been some fantastic saves and the ball is allowing
goalkeepers to perform at their best.
"We are five games into the tournament and we are confident and
pleased at the ball's behaviour, and the players are getting more
confident with it."
Referring to criticisms that the ball is too small and too
light, Schaikvan added: "I would invite anyone to test the
circumference and weight of this ball. We have produced balls since
1963, nobody does it better than we do and this is the best ball we
have ever produced."
Andy Harland, a senior lecturer at Loughborough University where
prototypes of the ball were tested in various conditions, said:
"There is a noticeable difference between how the ball performs at
altitude compared to how it performs at sea level.
"When FIFA made the decision to bring the World Cup to South
Africa they took the decision that some games would be played at
altitude and some at sea level.
"There was nothing in the research agenda that was set for us to
develop a ball that would play the same way at altitude as at sea
level, if that is even possible."
Asked about the goal, Harland said: "It's very difficult to
blame the ball and I haven't seen anything to suggest that the
flight of the ball was dodgy or that the bounce of the ball was
dodgy.
"Every player is entitled to their own opinion and some some
people will look for something to blame, but from an evidence point
of view I don't see that the ball was at fault."
FIFA head of media Nicolas Maingot added: "Adidas has been a
long-standing partner of FIFA and they are a very experienced
company when it comes to equipment. They have been working on this
ball and it has been tested, approved and is now being used for
this tournament."
